1 My son, if you will receive my words
And treasure my commandments within you, | |
2 Make your ear attentive to wisdom,
Incline your heart to understanding; | |
3 For if you cry for discernment,
a Lit GiveLift your voice for understanding; | |
4 If you seek her as silver
And search for her as for hidden treasures; | |
5 Then you will discern the fear of the LORD
And discover the knowledge of God. | |
6 For the LORD gives wisdom;
From His mouth come knowledge and understanding. | |
7 He stores up sound wisdom for the upright;
He is a shield to those who walk in integrity, | |
8 Guarding the paths of justice,
And He preserves the way of His godly ones. | |
9 Then you will discern righteousness and justice
And equity and every good course. | |
10 For wisdom will enter your heart
And knowledge will be pleasant to your soul; | |
11 Discretion will guard you,
Understanding will watch over you, | |
12 To deliver you from the way of evil,
From the man who speaks perverse things; | |
13 From those who leave the paths of uprightness
To walk in the ways of darkness; | |
14 Who delight in doing evil
And rejoice in the perversity of evil; | |
15 Whose paths are crooked,
And who are devious in their ways; | |
16 To deliver you from the strange woman,
From theb Lit strange womanadulteress who flatters with her words; | |
17 That leaves the companion of her youth
And forgets the covenant of her God; | |
18 For her housec Lit bows downsinks down to death
And her tracks lead to thed Lit departed spiritsdead; | |
19 None who go to her return again,
Nor do they reach the paths of life. | |
20 So you will walk in the way of good men
And keep to the paths of the righteous. | |
21 For the upright wille Or dwelllive in the land
And the blameless will remain in it; | |
22 But the wicked will be cut off from the land
And the treacherous will be uprooted from it. | |
